Fishmongers' Hall

2
Annotations

One who deals in fish. from the OED:1464 the ferst day off Marche at the Fyshemongerys howse.

["monger" nice old name, no longer in fashion, people do not like the bib of office. cgs]

[Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Saxon mongari, Old High German mangari, mengari, Old Icelandic mangari, prob. directly &lt;

classical Latin mang{omac} dealer, trader (see MANGO n.2), with substitution of the Germanic base of -ER1 for the Latin agent-noun

suffix; cf. also MONG v. With sense 2 cf. Old Saxon flesmongere, Middle High German vleischmanger, Old Icelandic kjöt-mangari butcher.

Also app. commonly attested in surnames from the late 13th cent., as Thom' Mangar (1279), and in place names from the early 13th cent., as Mangertone (1207; now Mangerton, Dorset), Mangersford (1442; Devon).

Compounds are also commonly attested in surnames from the late 12th or early 13th cent., as Haimanger (see quot. c1191-1210), Heymonger (see quot. 1297), Adam le Henmongere (1263), Le Hennemongere (1312), and in place names, as Haymongeregate (1240; street name in York).]

1. a. A merchant, trader, dealer, or trafficker (freq. of a specified commodity); (from the 16th cent.) a person engaged in a petty or disreputable trade or traffic. Sometimes short for an established compound such as cheesemonger (see sense 2), where the context makes this clear.

2. As the final element in compounds designating a dealer, trader, or trafficker in a particular commodity. (Now the principal use.)

Originally literally a trader, as cheese-, coster-, fish-, flesh-, ironmonger, etc.; but in formations dating from the 16th cent. also in extended use (freq. derogatory), as ceremony-, fashion-, mass-, merit-, news-, pardon-, scandal-monger, etc. The more important compounds of both kinds are treated as main entries or under their first element; the following are examples of occasional or nonce-formations.